The Necklace and the Bottle
by RedWing36
Summary: After a night with Winter, Qrow finds himself in a situation where he is forced to tell Winter a long painful story from his life.
Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY

Cover Art Credit: mojojoj27827860

* * *

Qrow woke up to a scene that he was all too familiar with. One he had been in too many times before.

A pounding head, laying in a bed that he didn't remember falling asleep in, staring at a ceiling he was not familiar with. Thankfully, It was still nighttime.

Groaning, he attempted to get up out of the bed, only to be stopped by an unfamiliar weight pinning him against the sheets. Looking down, he noticed another person wrapped around him.

"Winter?" He whispered, looking at the woman who was cuddled up next to him, sleeping soundly. A smile graced her face, something he had rarely ever seen in his time around the normally cold and serious woman. Her lack of clothes had him asking himself questions until he noticed that he was in the same predicament.

Suddenly the memories of the previous night came flooding back to him. He had gone to Atlas after seeing his niece wake up, to get information about the current situation from Winter. Like normal he had been drinking, and then she had started yelling about his drinking. He yelled at her to stop bugging him. They got into a fight and then one thing had led to another, someone kissed someone else, and the next thing he remembered they were back at her place in Atlas.

"Yeah, I'm going to deal with this… anytime that isn't now." He murmured, trying not to wake the woman next to him. He did his best to gently untangle Winter's arms from around him so he could get out of bed. Finding success, he got up and stretched his arms far above his head until he heard the popping of his shoulders. The cold air that touched his body as he left the warmth of the bed raised goosebumps all over his skin and he felt a shiver go up his spine.

Letting out a satisfied sigh he looked back to the bed to make sure that he had not disturbed the sleeping woman. A frown took his face as he looked back at her, lying on the bed. The woman's white hair had fallen over the right side of her face, and a frown had replaced the cute smile that had previously adorned her face. Her arms had snaked their way around herself. She was shivering.

As Qrow looked at her, guilt washed over him. Sighing, he walked over to the bed and pulled the blankets over her exposed body. " _Seems like even the ice queen doesn't always like the cold."_ As soon as Winter's shivering stopped the smile reappeared on her face as she pulled the blankets closer to herself, an unconscious moan escaping her lips "Hmmm, Qrow..." Her voice was full of bliss, and a hint of sensuality as she said his name.

A small chuckle escaped his lips as he stood back up, and began looking around the room. The pale moonlight coming through the large wall sized window to his right lit the room up enough for him to make out the vague details.

He was surprised that the room belonging to the daughter of one of the richest families in the world looked so bland. There were literally no decorations in the room other than a few pictures of Winter and her sister, and one of her and General Ironwood that were all placed on a single large dresser along the left wall of the room. He made note of the fact that there was not a single picture of her parents. Next to that was a large body length mirror. On the other side of the dresser was a set of double doors. Upon closer inspection he found it was a large walk in closet, though it was surprisingly empty for its size. " _I guess Winter isn't one for fashion."_

Her bed was just as simple as everything else. A simple king-sized mattress, with a small white bed frame pushed up against the back wall of the room. Across from the bed was a single door that he assumed was the way out of the room and into the rest of the house. One glaring detail did stick out to him about the whole room though.

" _Why does everything the Schnee family touch have to be white?_ " He thought while shaking his head. " _I swear it's almost like they have a fetish for the damn color."_

Feeling like he had explored the room enough Qrow decided that maybe now was a better time to leave than any. " _Leaving before Miss cold-hearted and steely-eyed wakes up is probably the best course of action to take at the moment."_ Looking around the room, Qrow slowly began to gather the scraps of clothes that were thrown randomly around the room.

After getting dressed in his normal outfit, Qrow ran his hands through his hair and let out a sigh. He did a quick run-down of his things to make sure he was not missing anything.

" _Weapon?"_ his hand reached behind his back and lightly patted the large collapsed scythe on his back. Check.

" _Flask?_ " patting his coat pocket he felt the metal liquid container give a subdued _clink_ in response. Check

" _Ring?_ " Feeling around his right hand he made sure everything was in place before he proceeded.

" _And most importantly necklace."_ Reaching up around his neck Qrow felt around for the cross necklace that he always wore. A slight panic overcame him when he didn't feel it in it's usual place.

" _Where is it!?"_ he frantically began looking through every pocket that he had. Checking multiple times over and over in search of the piece of jewelry before accepting that it was not on his person. " _Oh come on! Of all the things for me to fucking lose."_

His self-chastising was interrupted by a voice coming from behind him. "Leaving so soon Qrow? Is that really any way to treat a lady?"

Turning around, he saw that Winter was now awake. She was sitting up in her bed with the sheets covering her chest as she looked at him, an amused smirk on her face. The one ice blue eye that he could see stared at him questioningly, as if she were awaiting his sarcastic retort.

"Where is my necklace?"

Her smirk quickly left her face as she realized that he was not going to be throwing an insult at her like expected. "What necklace?"

"Don't act like you don't know what I am talking about Ice Queen, my cross necklace that I always wear. Hell, you were playing with it last night!" His voice was laced with annoyance as he began looking around the room for the precious piece of jewelry.

Winter was slightly surprised with how well Qrow seemed to remember last night. "Wow, you actually remember? I guess you were not as drunk as I thought you were. I thought I was going to have to explain everything to you once you got up." Her chuckle only served to annoy Qrow further.

"Look Miss Specialist, are you going to sit there pretty and naked and keep teasing me, until I find the damn thing and leave or are you going to get up off that pretty ass of yours and help me look?!" He glanced at her as he finished looking under one of the pillows on the bed. He hadn't meant for it to sound so hostile, but right now he didn't really care.

He could tell that Winter was shocked by his outburst. Rarely had he ever seemed so serious or angry in her presence. Normally he was a drunk mess with a constant barrage of sarcastic remarks and jokes. The only other time he could think that she had seen him like this was the meeting they had at Beacon a little over a week ago, and the anger had been directed at the General during that meeting, not her.

"Ummm….um sure…I'm…I'm sorry for teasing you." She stammered an apology as she removed herself from the bed. She began walking over to her dresser to pull out some casual nightwear for herself to wear.

Qrow tried his best to not look at her as the beautiful naked woman walked away from him, sadly his resolve failed him as stole a few glances at her as she walked away from the bed. " _Damn, the woman really does have a nice body."_ His eyes wandered up and down her form as he noticed every curve that her well toned body offered, taking a few seconds longer than he should have admiring her backside. "You going to look for your necklace, or are you just gonna keep staring at my ass like you didn't see enough of it last night?"

Doing his best to shake the blush off his face he continued his search for his lost necklace.

" _Maybe it fell by the door to the hall when we came in."_ After another 5 minutes of searching Qrow was getting frantic. He had checked everywhere he could think of twice, if not three times already, and there was no sign of it.

"God damn it." He muttered under his breath as he took a seat on the edge of the bed. He faced the window and looked at the shattered moon that hung in the sky as snow slowly fell from the sky during the Atlesian winter night.

Qrow always loved looking at the moon, something about the way it would go from being shattered to whole throughout the months was enticing to watch, and it was such a nice way to think.

"Hey, tall, dark, and brooding." Looking behind him her saw Winter standing there. She had put on a simple white t-shirt that hung loosely on her body and some baggy white sweat pants. " _Seriously, it is ok for you people to have some other color than white in your life."_

She was looking at him with a neutral expression on her face. Her hair was pulled back into its normal bun, one side of her hair still falling over one of her eyes. The other shining blue eye looking into his bright red ones. She had one of her hands on her hip and the other held out in front of her in a fist. "Is this it?" She opened her hand and out feel a tiny cross attached to a thin metal chain.

A smirk took to his face as he looked at her. "Yeah, it is… Thanks Ice Queen." He reached for the necklace, but as he was about to grab it she snatched it back into her hand, and pulled it away from him. His smirk quickly became a frown as he glared at her. "Oh, real mature Ice Queen."

"Mature? This coming from the grown man who tried to walk out on a woman he slept with. The same man who also still uses nicknames? Not to mention you have a drinking issue." She spat back at him as she took a seat on the bed next to him.

He could only snort at her response as he turned his nose at her. She glared at him in response. "If you really want this back then I want to know something first."

Rolling his eyes at her he groaned in annoyance. "Look, I don't have time for this. Please give me back the necklace."

Her piercing eye seemed to turn an icy shade as her eyebrows fell into a scowl. "You really expect me to let you walk out of here like nothing happened Qrow? You expect me to act like we didn't just sleep together?"

"Well I was hoping so, yeah." As soon as the answer left his mouth he swore he saw a flash of sadness in her eyes as her scowl faltered for a fraction of a second.

Her eyes closed as she sighed. "I can't believe I actually expected anything different." Shaking her head before looked at the necklace in her hands. "Well no, I am not just going to let you walk out of here. You are going to answer something for me before I give this back to you."

Qrow rubbed his eyes, trying his best to get rid of the hangover he was feeling. Taking out his flask he unscrewed the cap and took a long drink of the vodka that he had inside. The liquid burned down his throat, and the throbbing in his head started to subside. He realized that the only way out of the situation was doing what Winter was asking of him. "Alright, alright you win. What is it you want to know Ice Queen?"

Once again she was glaring at him. Her eye looking into the blood red eyes of the man sitting next to her. She sighed before she began talking. "Alright, two things actually. First why the hell do you drink so damn much?" She held up the necklace and hung it in from of his face again. "Second…. Why is this so important to you?"

Qrow sighed, reaching back into his pocket he fished his flask back out, and began to unscrew the top, just as he was about to open the top, the flask was snatched out of his hands.

He shot a dirty glare to woman next to him. "You get this back when I hear the stories. Just like the necklace."

"Bitch," He mumbled under his breath.

"Hmm?" Winter raised an eyebrow at him. "I'm sorry, what was that?"

The throbbing was slowly returning to his head. Rubbing his temples, he turned to look back out the window at the moon, the snow fluttering down outside made for a beautiful image as it seemed to fall in the foreground of the moon.

"Nothing, at least you are making this easy on me...It is the same story essentially." Qrow rubbed his facial hair as he thought about where to start.

"The necklace was… Well it was a gift." His eyes moved up to meet Winter's. Her face had gone from smug to looking genuinely interested in the story that was about to be told. "It was a gift from my old partner, and the leader of my old team. Her name was Summer Rose." He paused as he thought about what he should say next.

"Did you love her?" His eyes shot up to meet hers, a surprised look on his face.

"What?" was his only response. Winter's face fell into one of concern as she saw the sadness and pain on his face, afraid she had hit a sensitive spot. She laid her hand on his shoulder.

"I asked if you loved her. Look if it is too painful you don't have-"

"No, no it is fine." Turning his attention back outside, he sat there for the next few seconds. A smile came to his face as he thought about Summer "Yeah. Yeah, I loved her. More than anything." The slight sadness in his voice didn't slip by Winter. She resisted the urge to hug him.

"What was she like?" He looked back at Winter slightly confused.

"What? Why does that matter?" He cocked an eyebrow at her.

"Because I'm curious, the way you talk makes me think there was something special about her."

Qrow couldn't help but laugh. "Ha! That woman had so many things special about her it wasn't even funny." He smiled as he recalled everything he could about her.

"For starters, she was beautiful, almost like an angel had graced us with it's presence. Everything about her was amazing, from her voice and laugh to her body, and her short black and red hair. The thing that always captivated me the most though were those beautiful silver eyes. Her daughter looks so much like her that it is scary sometimes." Qrow laid back onto the bed as he spoke. His muscles relaxed as they made contact with the soft material of the cotton sheets.

"She was always honest with people… well she had to be. She was a terrible liar." He gave a small chuckle. "Whenever she lied, she would get this giant grin on her face and she would close her eyes. Almost like she was trying to pass off her lie with a beautiful smile."

"I'll always remember the first day that I meet her."

* * *

Qrow looked behind him as he quickly made his way toward the main hall of Beacon. Off in the distance he could see his sister standing in front of a tall blond haired boy with a red sash tied around his arm. An annoyed look on her face as the boy attempted to flirt with her. Qrow shook his head as he continued forward. "Dude, you are getting in way over your head." He almost felt sorry for the kid. He hoped at least this one would walk away without getting a bone broken.

Suddenly, he crashed into someone. The impact of whoever he had hit made him take a few steps back in surprise. He saw a girl in a white cloak sitting on the ground rubbing her head muttering curses under her breath.

"Hey are you ok?" He extended his hand to help up the girl.

The girl stopped her muttering and looked up at him in surprise, her face suddenly took on a deep red shade as her eyes met Qrow's. The first thing he noticed was the large bright silver eyes she had. It was something had never seen before. The next thing he noticed was her shoulder length black hair that became red at the tips. Finally he took in her face. The girl had a soft, round face. Her features fit perfectly her face, a small redness notable against the pale skin of her cheeks. " _Well she is cute."_

Looking away the girl took his hand, and he pulled her up to her feet.

Now that she was standing, Qrow saw that she was well over a head shorter than him. That only made her look all the more adorable to him.

The girl was looking at her feet, and she was twirling her thumbs around one another. "Im…..sorry for bumping into to you. Thank you for helping me up." She spoke quietly, almost too softly for Qrow to hear. " _She even has a really cute voice."_

Qrow chuckled and smiled at her "Hey, no problem. I wasn't really looking where I was going either." The girl nodded slowly. "Well thank you again. Bye." With that she ran off in the direction of the school.

"Hey wait… What… Is your name?" His sentence falling short as she was already out of earshot. "Damn it."

"Who was that?" Turning around Qrow saw his sister standing behind him, her hands folded over her chest as she looked past him in the direction the girl had run off.

"I'm not sure, she ran off before I could ask her." Qrow said turning his head towards where his sister was looking. He noticed he no longer saw the girl's retreating form.

"Well stop standing there gawking after her, we have to get to initiation." She placed her hand on his shoulder as she walked past him.

"What? You already done talking to your new boyfriend?" Most people would have been terrified by the glare that Raven sent her brother, but he was more than used to it. He could only laugh at her expression.

She turned away from him and continued on her way with an annoyed sigh. Shaking his head Qrow started off after his sister, but stopped when his foot kicked something on the ground.

Looking down, he saw a simple cross necklace laying on the ground. Bending down he quickly picked it up. " _Did the girl drop this…...Well I might as well hold on to it for when I see her again. Hopefully."_ As he ran to catch up to his sister he made sure that he slipped the necklace into his shirt pocket.

* * *

"So she was the quiet type?" Qrow let out a hearty laugh at Winter's question.

"I thought that at first, but that is not even close to what Summer was like." Taking a moment to catch his breath before he continued.

"She was the biggest social butterfly I have ever known, she was friends with everyone she met it seems. She was just shy on her first day at beacon." A smile once again returning to his face. "I figured out just how much of a talker she was that night."

* * *

Qrow was wandering around the large open room that all the new students had been pushed into to sleep for the night after they had heard of their initiation from the school's headmaster Professor Ozpin.

He had quickly found himself a spot on the boy's side of the room, one that was slightly farther away from all the others. Well except for the kid who was flirting with his sister earlier. Taiyang had been hanging around Qrow ever since he bumped into the kid near the welcoming speech. The kid was nice, but his loudness and brash ways of talking would probably get him in trouble sooner or later. Though Qrow was completely fine with Taiyang, if only for the fact that he was constantly bugging his sister. Qrow wished he could have taken more pictures of the look on her face.

He quickly got dressed in a pair of grey sweatpants, and a plain white t-shirt as he prepared to go to sleep in a little bit.

As Qrow was looking around the giant room he noticed the girl from earlier sitting by one of the giant windows in the room all alone.

Qrow felt his heart pick up speed slightly and he decided to walk towards her.

As he got closer, she hadn't seemed to notice him yet. Looking at her he noticed that she was staring at the moon.

"The moon really is beautiful isn't it." His statement seemed to surprise the girl as she jumped up and spun around rather quickly.

Her silver eyes, full of panic, quickly settled as she saw that it was only him behind her. Although her face flushed red again as she locked eyes with Qrow. "Oh, it's only you! You really scared me there."

She was much louder this time around, speaking much more clearly, and not focusing on the floor.

"So is something on your mind, or are you just sitting here because you like the loner look?" A smirk came to his face as he teased the girl.

She turned her face away from him, looking back out the window. She started playing around with her thumbs again. " _A nervous habit?"_ He thought to himself.

"Well I don't really know anyone here, so I thought I would just come over here, and enjoy myself." She paused for a second as let out a sigh. "I also ended up losing something of mine today… It hasn't exactly been the best first day at Beacon."

Suddenly Qrow remembered the necklace he had found earlier. "Hold on one second, I'll be right back." Running back over to his stuff he fished around in his shirt pocket until he found the necklace and quickly ran back over to the girl who was watching him the entire time.

Coming to a stop in front of her, he held out his hand and dangled the necklace in front of her face. "Is this it by any chance?"

As soon as she saw the necklace, Qrow saw her silver eyes brighten with happiness. He was captivated by the beauty they held as she quickly grabbed the necklace and hung it back around her neck. "Yes, yes, yes you found it!" She looked back at him and quickly pulled the taller boy into a hug. "Thank you so much. This was a gift for getting into Beacon from my dad. I was so worried that I had lost it for good."

Qrow fought down the blush on his face as he hesitated for a second, frozen, before returning the girl's hug. "Hey no problem. You must have dropped it when we ran into each other."

The girl stayed hugging him for a few seconds before she seemed to realize how long they had been in that position and quickly jumped back. A blush coloring her face.

She coughed into her hand a few times clearing her throat, "Well, yes, thank you so much for finding my necklace." The smile she gave him nearly melted his heart. Suddenly her eyes widened in surprise. "Oh! I never introduced myself. I'm Summer, Summer Rose." she extended her hand towards him. " _She has such a beautiful name as well."_

Qrow smiled back as he took her hand and gave it a firm shake. "The name is Qrow, nice too meet you Summer."

After that the two of them sat back down next to the window and just talked for a few hours till it was time to go to bed. Qrow completely forgetting that he had meant to go to bed early.

"Well good luck with initiation tomorrow Summer."

She smiled back at him. His heart once again began to pick up speed. "You too. I hope that we can be on the same team." With that she skipped off back towards her sleeping mat.

"I hope so as well." He said to himself as he walked back over to his own sleeping mat.

As he laid down, Tai was laying down, looking up at the ceiling as Qrow passed over him.

"What has you in such a good mood?" The blond boy asked.

"Nothing… Just made a good friend is all." The boy raised an eyebrow at him.

"Whatever, I'm going to sleep. See you tomorrow man."

"'Night Tai." With that Qrow closed his eyes. The smile Summer gave him never left his face.

* * *

"The next day Summer and I found each other during initiation, and became partners. She was made the leader of our team. Which, funny enough, had my sister, Raven, and Tai on it." Qrow took out the photo of his old team that he kept with him, he stared at it before handing it to Winter. "Man was that funny. When Raven found out that the boy who had been ' _harassing_ ' her the previous day was her partner, she flipped out. It was one of my favorite moments of our first year at Beacon."

"So what happened?" Winter was studying the picture that she held in her hands. She couldn't see Summer's face fully, because the girl was facing sideways leaning against the tree in the picture. From what she could see, Qrow was right about Summer. The girl was very beautiful, and she reminded Winter a lot of her sister's partner.

"Well, after we became partners it wasn't long before we became best friends. What time we were not spending with our team was spent together, it seemed." Qrow began to rub the back of his right hand. "For years we grew closer, as partners, and friends. Along with Raven and Tai we became the top team at beacon, setting combat records and going out on dangerous missions well above our years'."

His eyes shifted back out of the window, watching as the snow accumulated on the window. "Then after we graduated we all started working for Ozpin… doing what I am now. It was great at first. Summer and I would constantly go out on missions together." His eyes caught a particular snowflake as it makes way down through the air of the Atlas night.

"So you two were dating at this point?" A frown overtook Qrow's face as he saw the flake hit the glass of the window, suddenly becoming part of a much larger collective of snowflakes. "We… never were dating."

"You never asked her out?" Winter handed the picture back to Qrow as she posed her question.

"Nope." He said as he folded the picture and put it back into his pocket.

"What? I thought you said you loved her, and the way you talk about her makes it seem like you fell for her during your first year at Beacon."

"That is true, yes." His voice becoming noticeably softer, and full of regret.

"Then why were you not..." Winter began leaning closer towards Qrow before she was cut off.

"Because I was stupid." Qrow turned his eyes to face the ground. Regret crushing him, and the pounding in his head growing exponentially.

"I was scared to screw everything up, I never asked her to date me. She was the only thing in my life I was truly ever scared to lose." He felt tears coming to his eyes, but he quickly pushed them back, not daring to let them fall.

Winter frowned as she looked at Qrow, she wanted nothing more than to hug and comfort the seemingly broken man in front of her. In less than twenty minutes Qrow had gone from being an insufferable asshole to a caring, yet deeply troubled man in her mind.

"A couple years into graduation and everything was going great until..." He paused to let out a sigh. His fist clenching and unclenching as he felt a small wave of anger rush over him.

"Until what?" Winter put her hand on Qrow's shoulder as she spoke, inching ever so slightly close to him.

Qrow's hand tightened around each other. "Then my sister happened."

Winter raised one of her eyebrows. "What do you mean?"

"Surprisingly enough after a few years of being together, my sister actually fell for Tai and his numerous attempts at wooing her." He turned toward Winter. "One thing about Raven is that she has a very different worldview than most people. One which I wholeheartedly do not agree with."

"She always tried to live her life with a plan, and when something went against that plan she would always get frustrated, and either give up, or cut her way through it."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

Qrow looked into her eyes. She could see the fire of rage that burned within them. "Becoming a mother was never a part of her plan, and when that baby was born… She gave up and ran. She left Tai alone, heartbroken, and with a newborn child to look after."

Winter felt disgusted when she heard what Raven had done, she had never heard of someone's mother just leaving them. She may have no had the best parents in the world, but at least they were there part of time time. "Where did she go?"

"That isn't important to the story Ice queen." a small smirk coming to his face.

Winter's face narrowed into a scowl. "You are insufferable."

"I can stop telling the story if you would like? Would be a hell of a lot easier for me."

She frowned at the prospect of the story ending. She was truly curious to see how everything played out, though she could guess the story didn't end well. "No, please continue." She hadn't meant for her request to sound so desperate.

Shaking his head, Qrow continued. "Well Tai didn't know the first thing about taking care of kids, and mix that with the depression he fell into once Raven left, he needed help taking care of his daughter."

He took a deep breath. "Summer being the woman that she was quickly volunteered to help him. She moved in and became his daughter's new mom. She stopped being able to go on missions, it was suddenly just me out in the field working for Oz."

"It was like that for about two years. I would go off for months at a time on some mission, gathering information and what not. Every time I came back I would always make time to do something with Summer." One side of his mouth twitched upward, before quickly falling. "At that point I told myself I was going to tell her how I felt. Tell her that I loved her. Hoping maybe we could go back to going on missions soon..."

Qrow turned his gaze to the flask that was currently lying on the ground next to Winter's bed, her having put it down shortly after his story had started.

Winter noticed his eyes on the bottle, and the somber tone the story had shifted to. Reaching down, she grabbed the flask and quickly handed it to him. Her heart slightly fluttered with the smile she received. "Thank you," With that he quickly opened the flask and took a giant swing from it's contents. The large pain in his head began to dissipate.

"One day I asked her out to lunch after I had come back from a mission. I had been gone for a few months, and wanted a chance to see her before Ozpin sent me back out. I planned on talking to her about my feelings, finally letting her know how I truly felt." A small chuckle erupted from his throat. "Though before I had a chance to say it she told me she was pregnant, and that Tai was the father." He paused to look at Winter "That was the night the drinking started."

Winter's face fell as she saw Qrow's expression sour. "I'm sorry to hear that, it must have hurt."

"Second worst moment of my life." Qrow sighed as he turned his attention back out the window, the moon had been covered by thick clouds and the snow now accumulated faster against the window, quickly piling up along the ground of the balcony outside.

"All I could do was tell her congratulations, and that I was happy for her. I was to scared to tell her how I felt. I thought she was too happy with Tai."

"Thought?" Winter's question hung in the air for an awkward amount of time.

"I wasn't until later that I found out that Tai and Summer were not as close as I thought. Their relationship had been shaky through the years after Ruby's birth. Still, I never saw the signs. Probably too deep in a bottle by that point to really think about it." He brought the flask to his lips again, the last bits of his headache leaving as he felt a slight buzz.

"Anyway after I found that out, I started taking missions more frequently and even after Summer started doing missions again I would ask for jobs alone, and decline any that she asked me to join her on. I just couldn't bare it. I knew that if I had gone on those jobs I would have told her everything, and screwed something up. I didn't want to ruin our friendship."

"You tried to save your friendship… by cutting her off?" Qrow couldn't help but laugh. "It doesn't make much sense looking back on it, but it made sense to my drunk mind back then. Plus I didn't entirely cut her off. I went and visited them once every few months to say hi, and to see my nieces." Suddenly Qrow's expression turned very serious.

"Then the day came that everything changed." Qrow suddenly felt a lump form in his throat, feeling like it would choke him if he dared to say more. The stinging sensation of tears could be felt as he thought back on the events he was about to tell.

"One day I got word of a mission that Summer was going out on. It was suicidal, not even a huntress as powerful as Summer would be able to do this alone, but she never requested backup. I was injured at the time from a previous mission, and my request that Oz put me on the mission was declined, so I went to try and talk some sense into her."

* * *

The snow fell around him as he stood on a branch overlooking a house that was tucked away in the woods of the small island of Patch. A bright orange hue lit up the sky as the sun was starting to rise over the horizon of the island. The cold air nipped at his feathers as he stood silently watching his old teammates converse outside of their house.

"How long do you think you will be gone?" Tai questioned the smaller woman in front of him. The cold seemed to not bother him even though he was wearing nothing but his normal button up short sleeved shirt, brown vest, and matching Cargo pants. His breath was clearly visible as he waited for Summer's answer.

Qrow couldn't see her face from his position as her hood was pulled up, the white cloak almost fully camouflaging her against the snow blanketed ground. Her black skirt and leggings were the only things making her visible.

"It is a simple mission to clear out some grimm in Vacuo. It should take a month, at the most." The chipper sound of her voice reached Qrow's ears. His heart still gave a small flutter every time he heard it. That was a feeling that he thought would never truly go away as long as he lived.

Tai sighed as he shook his head before looking at Summer with a small smile. "Alright, well you be safe then. I'll make sure the girls don't get into too much trouble." He reached down to give Summer a kiss. As his face approached the cloak, Summer quickly turned her head, Tai lips only finding her cheek. She turned in a way that Qrow could now clearly see her face. She still had the same beautiful face that he always remembered, only now her cheeks were flushed a brighter red from the cold winter air.

As Tai pulled back Qrow could see the small frown on his face. He nodded at Summer and gave one last goodbye as he walked back into the house. He saw the large puff of steam come from Summer as she sighed before she turned on her heels and began walking to the path that was lead towards the tree he was currently resting in.

As she passed his tree and continued onward he followed her, waiting for the right opportunity to talk to her. Hoping that soon they would be far enough away from her house to get some privacy.

After five minutes of walking,Summer came to a stop in a small clearing. Her boots dug into the ground as she slowly stilled. Her head turned up as she looked toward the falling snow. "Come on out Qrow. I know you are there."

Seeing no point in hiding anymore, Qrow quickly jumped down from the tree he was in, changing back from a bird to his normal human form. A few feathers following him to the ground as he landed in the thick snow. He caught himself with his good hand as to not aggravate the arm that was currently held in a sling. The crunching sound of the snow was all that was heard as he walked into the clearing, stopping a few feet behind her. "Why did you lie to him Summer?"

Summer never stopped looking at the snow. "It is easier if I don't have him trying to stop me… much like you are about to do, I assume." A small note of annoyance crept into her voice.

"Of course I'm going to try and stop you." He did his best to keep his voice calm, even with the amount of emotion that was swirling around in his stomach like a whirlpool . "This mission is fucking suicidal to go on with two trained huntress, let alone one going off on her own." His voice was starting to rise as he spoke.

She finally turned to face him. "Qrow, I can handle myself. I am perfectly capable of doing this." A small smile on her face. The sunlight reflected off the cross necklace that hung around her neck.

"Don't bullshit me Summer. You _know_ that this is a stupid idea." Qrow could feel his anger rising.

Her smile quickly fell, her expression giving nothing away as she looked at him. She pulled down her hood, and placed one of her hands on her hips. "Qrow this is something that has to be done… You know that. Plus you have been out there doing this on your own for the past few years now."

"This isn't the same thing Summer. I have been out gathering information, and look what happened to me." He said slighting raising the arm in its sling. "I barely got out alive, and you are going out there specifically to fight. Just 'cause you have those silver eyes of yours doesn't mean you can just go out and do this alone." His brow knit together in a scowl.

"Why are you so concerned?" she shouted

His anger finally boiling over at her question. "Because I have seen what is out there! I have seen the things that woman has created! They are horrifying!" His voice echoed through the morning air.

Summer closed her eyes as she sighed. "Qrow, you are not gonna convince me to drop this." Turning her back she started to walk away. "Please don't try and stop me."

"Take me with you." She stopped immediately.

"What? Have you been drinking again?" She turned to face him, only finding him stoic and even. "You're serious?"

"Do I look like I'm joking Summer? If I can't stop you from going on his damn mission, then I sure as hell am not letting you go alone." Suddenly her face took on an angry expression as he eyebrows knit together, he could see her clenching her first.

"Oh, now you don't want me to go alone? For the past four years you have done nothing but make sure I have gone on tons of missions alone, even when I requested you as a partner. Hell, you have done your best to avoid even talking to me. I rarely even get messages from you anymore!" She was yelling now. The frustration that had been building up for years finally coming forth into words.

"I have been busy. Missions eat up a lot of my time. Besides it isn't like you have gone out of the way to contact me."

"I messaged you often in the past after Ruby was born. Communication is a two way street Qrow." She pulled out her scroll and waved it in the air pointing to it. "This is the send button Qrow. It isn't that hard to use." her voice steadily rising. "I can't believe you are acting like this right now. What has changed so much that now you are coming back and trying to stop me?" She snarled as she put her scroll away.

"What changed is that you are risking your life on this stupid mission!" He finally started walking toward her coming to meet her his eyes looking down into hers. Silver, and Red both meeting, both burning with rage.

"Don't give me that shit Qrow! I risk my life on every mission that I go out on, yet for four years, ever since I told you I was pregnant you have done your damn best to fucking avoid me! Now all of a sudden I go on this mission, and you come out of nowhere wanting to join me?!" She was waving her hands as she spoke. The steam from her mouth passing straight through Qrow. "Do you seriously think I am gonna take you when you are fucking hurt." Pointing the the sling his arm was in. "You would just get yourself killed. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if you died Qrow, so just drop it. I am going and you are not coming with me!" As her tirade ended she turned on her heels and began to walk away.

Qrow quickly stopped her by grabbing her arm. She spoke before he even had a chance to do anything. "WHY ARE YOU TRYING SO HARD TO STOP ME!"

"CAUSE I DON'T WANT TO WATCH THE WOMAN I LOVE WALK OFF TO HER DEATH!" Qrow eyes widened as he yelled his response. He was surprised the words had even left his mouth. Summer seemed to have a similar reaction. Her silver eyes were wider than he had ever seen them.

"What did you say?" Qrow sighed, his breath quickly dissipating in the air, there was no point in trying to hide it now.

"I love you Summer, and I can't watch you walk off again. I have sat back and watched you go too many times before." His face tried desperately to look at anything other than her shocked expression. His eyes stuck to the snow that had been piling up around Summer's boots "I… I just can't let you go this time." His voice becoming much more quiet as his anger began to subside.

Qrow wasn't sure how long they stood there silently. It felt like an eternity to him. All he could hear was the sound of birds chirping off in the distance and Summer's breathing.

"How long?" Her voice had become quiet and hoarse. It was barely above a whisper.

"What?" Qrow turned his gaze upward to look at Summer. Her gaze was like his had been, locked on the ground. He couldn't see her expressions, but he noticed her fists were trembling.

"I asked, how long? How long have you had these feelings?" It sounded like she was speaking through gritted teeth.

"A while Summer," His eyes met her's as she looked up at him. He couldn't remember a time he had seen so much anger and passion in her eyes.

"That doesn't answer my question. How long?" the question was longer, and drawn out this time. The irritated tone in her voice only becoming more evident.

Qrow sighed turning his gaze away from the pools of silver that seems pierce his soul. "I had feelings for you since the first day I met you. I realized that it was love a little before graduation."

 _ **Smack**_

The slap from the smaller woman was not entirely unexpected, neither was the sound of her soft sobs.

The aggressive kiss that followed was.

His eyes were wide as he looked at Summer while the woman kissed him. She had tears running down her face, and her eyes were closed. Her hands were roughly gripping his shirt around his shoulders pulling him closer, and she was leaning up on the tips of her toes to be able to reach his face.

At first he didn't move, his mind refusing to process what was currently happening. Slowly he closed his eyes and wrapped his arms around Summer and pulled her closer, and started to return the kiss.

The feeling was so much better than he could have imagined, the feeling of her soft lips on his was a dream come true. It was a feeling that he never wanted to end. Sadly the need for air forced them to separate. As they did Qrow looked into the eyes of the woman still wrapped in his arms the tears still flowing, a sad smile on her face.

"Why did you wait until now to tell me?" Her voice was laced with sadness.

Qrow once again refused to meet her eyes. "I was always… Scared."

"Of what?" Qrow hoped that Summer thought the slight redness that came to his face was from the cold.

"I was always scared of your rejection. I never wanted to ruin what we had." A small chuckle escaped him "Then when I finally got the courage to ask you, you told me you were pregnant with Ruby. It was too late, so I sat back and let you have a life with Tai, where I knew you would be happy."

"You are an idiot, you know that Qrow? Did you never think to ask me what would make me happy?" Qrow looked at her, it truly never had crossed his mind before, and now that he thought about it he hated to admit that.

Summer pulled him tighter into a hug, squeezing him as tight as she could. "You would have made me so much happier Qrow."

"I'm sorry I never told you." a small smile made it's way to her face.

"Don't apologize, at least you told me now."

He could feel the tear starting to sting the corner of his eyes. Trying his best not to let them fall. "Please Summer stay here with me, don't go out on this mission."

"You know I can't do that. It is my job as a hunter to protect people. This mission is far too important for me to just not go. If I don't… People will die." She pulled back from the hug and grasped his hand in both of hers. A frown was the only thing on his face. "Just know one thing before I go Qrow."

She leaned into him, and whispered in his ear. "I love you too." as she pulled away from him she placed a kiss on his cheek. With that, she began to walk away from him. Her hands slowly leaving his.

Once her hands left his he felt something in it. Opening his hand he noticed a small cross shaped necklace resting in his open palm. He watched Summer as she began to make her way back into the forest. A mixture of sadness, and happiness washed over him.

He saw her stop as she neared the edge of the clearing. "Qrow… If anything happens to me… please look after Ruby for me." Qrow felt a knot form in his chest.

"Okay," he paused for a moment thinking of what he should say next. "Summer… when you get back, promise me that we will talk about us." He needed to have some reassurance that she would be back, even if he knew it was likely impossible that she would. He just needed something to reassure him that she would come back.

When she turned to him to answer his heart broke, and he felt any hope he had leave his body. She was crying again slightly, and he knew the smile she wore all too well. A wide grin, with her eyes closed always trying to hide her lies with such a beautiful smile. "Sure, we will talk about it when I get home. Promise." With that she quickly ran into the forest.

Qrow was left alone in the snow. Suddenly the air became so much colder than it had been a few moments before. The snow started to fall much faster now. He looked down at his open palm once more, staring at the necklace that Summer had left him. As he clutched the necklace to his chest, he felt a single tear start to roll down his cheek. "Damn it all." he whispered. "I failed again."

* * *

Qrow finished off the last bits of his drink as his story came to an end. Putting the flask away he opened his hand and looked at the necklace that Winter had given him halfway through his story.

He suddenly felt Winter wrap her arms around him and bring him into a hug. "I'm sorry." He wasn't sure if she was apologizing because she felt bad, or if she was apologizing for making him recall the memories, but he honestly didn't care. He turned toward her and returned her hug. They sat there in each other's arms silently for a while, neither moving much. Finally after what seemed like forever Winter pulled back and stared into his eyes. He saw concern in her eyes as she studied him.

"That is… very sad." Qrow could only nod in agreement.

"Yeah it is. That was the worst moment of my life. Hell I don't think I ever drank more than I did that night." he said, putting on his necklace as he continued to talk. "It was about two months later, when she was reported missing in action. I went on many missions to try and locate her for months after that, but I found nothing. After that she was pronounced dead. This necklace became the last thing I had of her other than my memories."

"I can't imagine how painful that must be." Qrow only nodded his head.

"For months after her death things spiraled out of control. I was drinking harder, and was skipping out on missions, I ignored calls from Ozpin. Hell I even missed attending Summer's funeral."

"Why did you miss the funeral?" Qrow looked at the floor. A feeling of shame washing over him.

"I chose not to go, I didn't want to face Tai and my nieces. I didn't want to face a grave that had no body in it. I guess deep down I still hadn't accepted she wasn't coming back."

"So… what did you do?" Winter looked at Qrow, concerned. Ever since the story had started she had seen a side of Qrow she didn't think existed, and all she wanted to do was help this broken man pick up the pieces of himself.

"I drank myself into oblivion that night, that is all I remember. Tai ended up coming over to my house the next day to yell at me. He was furious that I didn't attend. Then he saw that I had the necklace, and demanded that I give it to him." Qrow held the cross in between his fingers, playing with it as he recalled his altercation with Tai. "I told him to fuck off and that she gave it to me that day, I didn't bother to tell him anything that happened other than that. There was a big, big argument, and punches were thrown. After everything was over I told him that he had the greatest gift Summer gave the world with Ruby, and that he should be more than happy with that."

Qrow let the necklace go and looked back at Winter. "I guess that seemed to work. He left my house after that. Before he left he told me that he was always jealous of me. He always felt Summer loved me more than him, no matter what they did. That Summer always compared him to me, and that she was always happier when I was around. I didn't have the heart to tell him that Summer told me she loved me. It would have broken him more than he already was. Ever since then me and Tai have been on shaky grounds."

"Well what about the promise you made with Summer?"

"About a month after me and Tai had our altercation I came out of my rut. I decided that I would go pay them a visit. Once I got to their house I noticed that no one was there. I looked around the woods for about half an hour before I found my nieces. They were about to be attacked by some Grimm, I quickly took care of them and brought the girls back to their house. Tai had apparently left that day and they had wandered off on their own. After Tai got back we had a long discussion. I told him I would help him look after the girls." Qrow got up off the bed and began pacing around the room. Winter layed down on the bed and simply watched him.

"After that I stopped taking missions for Ozpin as frequently. I took a job at Signal, and started teaching Ruby. I'll never forget the day Ruby told Tai I was going to be training her. He told her that he was happy for her, and as soon as she left he got upset. His exact words to me were "It looks like you get the best gift she gave to the world in the end."

He never really liked that I was training Ruby, but after that he never brought it up. Now Ruby is off on her own training to be a huntress, with the same gifts as her mother, I am afraid. No matter what I do it seems she is destined for trouble. All I can do is keep a watchful eye on her, and make sure she becomes the best Huntress she can be. Just like her mother. " A small smile made it's way to his face.

"Well, there you have it. That is my story… now that that is out of the way I have to be going. Patch is a long way to go, and I have a feeling that my niece will be leaving in the next few days." With that he gave a bow, and proceeded to walk toward the door.

"Qrow, wait..." His hand stopped just short of the doorknob. Turning around he looked back at Winter. The woman seemed flustered, a look he had never seen grace the face of the attractive young Specialist. "It is really late, and it is almost like a blizzard outside. I know that since you told me everything I don't really have a right to make a request, but i think you should stay here the night. You can get going in the morning.

Qrow smiled. Looking at the Winter, he could see that she was still not looking into his eyes. Inwardly, he laughed." _I guess the rest of the night wouldn't hurt, besides I feel exhausted."_

"Alright Ice Queen, I'll stay. Now come on, let's get some sleep." With that Qrow took off his shirt, and both of them climbed back into Winter's bed. Winter cuddled up close to Qrow, wrapping her arms around him. "You know Qrow, you really are not that bad." With that she smiled and closed her eyes.

Qrow chuckled a little bit as he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close to him. "You aren't so bad yourself Ice Queen." With that the two of them fell asleep.

* * *

Winter opened her eyes to the sun shining through the large window of her room. Rubbing her eyes she sat up and stretched, a yawn escaping her lips as she looked at the spot next to her in bed. She noticed it was empty, on the nightstand next to her bed she saw a note that hadn't been there the night before. Picking it up she opened the letter and began reading.

 _Dear Winter,_

 _Thanks for taking the time to sit and listen to my story last night. I may not have shown it, but it was rather nice to get some of that stuff off my chest. I am happy that you were there to listen._

 _From: Qrow_

 _P.S Next time I stop by Atlas for drinks, wear something less revealing. If we get into another argument I want to lose to your wits, not the length of your dress._

 _P.P.S Get some stuff that isn't fucking white. Other colors can look nice too._

Winter laughed as she read the note. "So this is the man I have fallen for?"

* * *

Qrow took a deep breath as he looked at the stone grave in front of him. " _Summer Rose"_ was written on the stone, with an intricate rose design that he was all too familiar with carved into the rock. He had been here for twenty minutes trying to think of something to say. Words failing to come to him. He looked up and noticed the sun slowly rising, bathing the cliff in the beautiful orange glow of the morning sun.

"It seems even after you are gone, I still have trouble finding the correct thing to say to you… I guess the best place to start with is an apology for never having visited before now. A real assholish and selfish thing for me to do." Reaching into his pocket he took out his flask. As he began to unscrew the cap, he looked back at the grave. With a sigh he screwed the cap back on and put the flask back into his pocket.

"You never did like me drinking. I guess I'll hold off of it a bit for now." Qrow searched the depths of his mind for anything to say. "You always did love stories. I wish I had one worthy of telling you. Though I am sure you would be happy with anything really."

Qrow thought about anything he could tell to Summer. About his life since her death, how Tai, Yang, or Ruby were doing. Even if it was bad for all of them right now. Hell he even thought about telling her about how boring his teaching job at Signal could be.

After awhile he turned around and began to walk away. "You know, on second thought I think I'll wait a bit before telling you a story, Summer. I have a feeling in a few years the story I want to tell will finish being written. I am sure it will be your favorite." A grin made its way onto his face as he walked away. "The story of the small girl in a red hood, and how she saved us all." He stopped for a brief moment to turn and look at the grave stone. "Yeah, I am sure that one will be your favorite. Well until then, I guess you'll have to wait a little bit longer before I come for a first real visit Summer, I hope you are not too upset about that." he began to feel tears pool in the corners of his eyes.

Quickly blinking them away he turned around once again and started back on his way towards Tai's house. "I love you Summer."

With his final words spoken Qrow turned into a bird and flew away heading toward his niece, in hopes of keeping his promise to the woman he loved.

* * *

 **Alright here is my Moncon for April, this one was actually really hard to write for me. The Hunter's Dream stuff was a little easier than all the Night Watch stuff, but it was still a challenge. The whole time I wrote this I kept feeling like I wasn't making the characters seem like themselves, so I hope everything looks alright.**

 **Also a small not for anyone who is reading my other story "Our Past Mistakes" I hope to update that soon, it just might be a longer than I hope cause of Finals coming up soon, and a large project I need to start on.**

 **As always please leave a review and let me know what you think.**

 **Till next time.**


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